Fermanagh and Omagh District Council are to request more of an input on Education Area Planning Groups. The news coms after Councillors expressed dissatisfaction at a response to a letter they sent to the Department of Education regarding the rural proofing of schools in council area.

The Department were responding to several queries from the Council including a perceived underspend of £136.1m from the block grant and the need for special designation to be given to rural schools in the area that are "suffering greatly".

In their response the Department stated that there was no underspend but rather a "misunderstanding of the accounts position". The Department stated that £128.6m of the perceived underspend was in effect cash that had not yet been drawn down by schools to make projected payments.

In relation to rural schools the Department stated that the Rural Needs Act and Common Funding Scheme were in place to assist and ensure the protection of rural schools.

However, Independent Councillor Bernice Swift was not impressed with the response:

"I am not satisfied by the response and there is a lot of wax lyrical in it," she said, adding:

"They are obviously not exactly hearing the rural issues clearly enough. They can massage the figures all they want but I am not accepting it. They are not rural proofing at all. Given my concern about this I do feel it is imperative that there are council representations that sit on these education area plans."

The proposal was seconded by Sinn Fein Councillor Anthony Feely, who stated,

"There are absolutely no answers at all in this letter."